Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2018 Grand Title Winner Running Head
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SPEAKING TO THE WORLD Annual Review 2018/19 Patron HRH The Duchess of Cambridge CONTENTS Chair The Lord Green of Hurstpierpoint Introduction by the Director Chair of Trustees and the Director 2 Sir Michael Dixon A snapshot of 2018/19 4 Trustees Prof Sir John Beddington CMG FRS Inspiring visitors 6 Dame Frances Cairncross DBE FRSE Prof Christopher Gilligan CBE Across the UK 12 Prof Sir John Holman International reach 18 Anand Mahindra Hilary Newiss Harnessing digital technologies 26 Robert Noel Simon Patterson World-leading science 32 Prof Sir Stephen Sparks CMG FRS CBE Prof Dame Janet Thornton DBE FRS FMedSci Improving access 38 Dr Kim L Winser OBE Focus on sustainability 40 Trustees as at 31 March 2019 Income and expenditure 42 Our performance 43 Raising revenue 44 Gifts and partnerships 46 Our supporters 48 Cover: Luke Jerram’s The Earth in the Hintze Hall at the Your Planet Needs You Late, November 2018 Right: Skye Meaker’s Lounging Leopard – a peaceful portrait of a leopard at rest in Botswana’s Mashatu Game Reserve – the Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2018 Grand Title winner Running Head Introduction by the Chair of Trustees and the Director Occasionally, an image will bring a subject into new focus, exposing an unseen or forgotten truth and energising action. In a year which saw unprecedented global attention for the climate and biodiversity crisis, a photograph of a lounging leopard dappled in sunlight reminded us of the astonishing beauty and fragility of the natural world that sustains us. Its creator, 16-year-old Skye Meaker, winner of the Museum’s Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year award, attended the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting in Davos in January. He appeared alongside the exhibition to showcase these powerful images – and highlight the questions they ask us about what sort of future we want for humanity and our planet. In total, over one million people in 14 countries saw the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition, during a year in which we prioritised our international outlook, working with global organisations and reaching across borders to engage audiences with the natural world. Collaborations with national and international institutions are at the core of projects that will underpin leading science research with global impact. We launched SYNTHESIS+ in February, a €10m initiative and the final piece of an ambitious programme, coordinated by the Museum, to create a Europe-wide collections infrastructure. The Museum also collaborated with UK organisations to create the CryoArks Biobank, the first cryopreservation facility for zoological tissue in the country, providing a major boost to conservation research. Inspiring science also saw our temporary exhibitions reach a new high with the thrilling Life in the Dark show. Not only did we break attendance records in London, but the Museum’s giant UK partnership, Dippy on Tour, delivered record visitor numbers and remarkable economic results for museums and communities on the first three stops of its UK tour. Online engagement rose more than five-fold, with an astonishing 6.4 million people reading articles on our website as we continue to use digital advances to open our collection and science to people around the world. Our world is changing fast, and we are making critical choices at a time when people are more disconnected than ever from nature. In the year ahead we will launch a new strategy that will take the Museum through to 2031, 150 years after it was founded. As a trusted scientific authority with global reach, we are powerfully placed to help individuals, governments and society at large to create a future where people and the planet thrive. Lord Green of Hurstpierpoint Sir Michael Dixon Chair of Trustees Museum Director Lord Green and Sir Michael Dixon in South Kensington Annual Review 2018/19 5 A SNAPSHOT OF 2018/19 New botanicals In April 2018, two spectacular botanical displays showcasing the diverse and unique flora of the Macaronesian region were installed at the Museum’s main entrance, displaying rare and endangered species and several not commonly cultivated. On the international stage ‘Zombie ant’ brain scans Boosting biomimetics The Museum brought our showcase Using micro-CT scans on the brain of an The Museum helped unveil a medical photography exhibition to the World infected ant, Museum researchers have adhesive inspired by slug slime, Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting shed light on how the parasitic worm pictured here on a heart, and other in Davos for the first time, as a large- Dicrocoelium dendriticum carries out mind technologies that draw on animals in its scale projection. The Young Wildlife control – it can compel ants into positions collection. These were developed by the Photographer of the Year winner Skye where they are likely to be eaten by a host Bioengineering Department of Imperial Meaker addressed delegates there, sharing in which the parasite can mature. College London, at the 2018 Royal Society a panel with esteemed conservationist Summer Science Exhibition. Dr Jane Goodall. The Wider Earth gala Lights in the dark Introducing Papilio natewa Professor Caroline Smith’s asteroid Their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Blending art, design and science, the The Museum contributed to the discovery Orbiting between Mars and Jupiter, Duchess of Sussex met schoolchildren exhibition Life in the Dark (13 July 2018 to of a new species of papilionid butterfly, asteroid (7635) Carolinesmith honours at the Museum during a gala to support 24 February 2019) featured a fascinating officially namedPapilio natewa, on the the Museum’s Head of Earth Science the Queen's Commonwealth Trust. bioluminescent light installation that island of Vanua Levu, Fiji. There are only Collections and Principal Curator of Commemorating Charles Darwin’s 210th mimicked the behaviours and movements two other swallowtail butterfly species Meteorites. Discovered on 6 November birthday, the event featured a performance of 11 deep-sea animals. known in this part of the Pacific, neither as 1983 by A Mrkos, the asteroid was named of the acclaimed play about the scientist, striking in appearance. after Smith in July 2018. The Wider Earth. Monitoring microplastic The Anning Rooms Scientists at the Museum had a rare An exclusive suite of new rooms for the numerous important contributions to opportunity to examine microplastic Museum’s Members and Patrons opened science during her lifelong exploration of ingestion in a top predator when a grey in September, featuring this Cabinet Dorset’s Jurassic Coast. seal found on a beach in Kent was brought of Curiosities. The rooms are named in in for dissection. honour of Mary Anning (1799–1847), the celebrated fossil hunter who made 6 Annual Review 2018/19 7 Running Head INSPIRING Running Head VISITORS The Museum continued to build upon our reputation as a powerful force for connecting people with science and the natural world this year. We enjoyed a record-breaking year for visitor numbers in 2018, delivering a creative programme of experiences and initiatives, all with the aim of fuelling curiosity for, igniting interest in and deepening understanding of the natural world. Numbers going up Visits to the Natural History Museum in London rose from 4.5 million to 5.3 million – a 17 per cent increase from 2017/18, making it the fourth most-visited attraction in the UK. The Museum also engaged with over 223,000 school children, over 1.1 million under-16s, and delivered new experiences to reach out to adults. The Museum at Tring hosted over 8,000 school children. Exhibitions drew on science research and the extraordinary Museum collections to delight visitors with the wonders of nature. The world-renowned photography exhibition Wildlife Photographer of the Year, supported in South Kensington by associate sponsors renewable energy company Ørsted and leading photography brand LUMIX, was seen by nearly 140,000 visitors. The exhibition Life in the Dark – which allowed visitors to explore the deep sea – was seen by over 106,000 visitors. The three-year tour of the Natural History Museum’s iconic Diplodocus cast, Dippy, has already been seen by more than one million people. visitors this year The Museum’s blue whale skeleton Hope welcomes visitors to the Hintze Hall, May 2018 9 Inspiring visitors Inspiring visitors The Museum’s Learning Volunteering Programme grew and diversified with more than 8,000 volunteering hours in 2018/19 from 85 volunteers. They helped Extraordinary exhibits Darwin theatre ‘It’s a great idea from a Museum which is much the Museum to engage more than 150,000 people in collections-rich learning Nearly 380,000 people saw the For the first time, a traditional conversations, which are underpinned by learning research. Museum’s South Kensington performance theatre was created more than a holding pen for summer holiday exhibitions in 2018/19, including inside the Museum’s Jerwood crowds; its scientists lead research and its work is In good company annual shows Sensational Gallery. The 357-seat auditorium A wide range of partnerships helped achieve this rich programme and reach new Butterflies and Wildlife hosted award-winning show The a living tribute to Darwin’s daring and his genius’ audiences, such as a project with the LEGO Group that supported the delivery of Photographer of the Year and Wider Earth, following sold-out science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) experiences through school brand new shows Life in the Dark seasons in Brisbane and Sydney. London Evening Standard and family programmes. Working with the Natural Environment Research Council (13 July 2018 to 24 February Featuring a cast of seven led to the creation of an evening of events and activities celebrating environmental 2019) and Venom: Killer and cure alongside 30 animal puppets science research, featuring cutting-edge science to engage adults with (to 13 May 2018).